Mikael Agricola

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Finnish language

The first book in Finnish was an alphabet book from 1543 by
Mikael Agricola, founder of the Finnish literary language; Agricola’s translation of the New Testament appeared five years later. Finnish was accorded official status in 1809, when Finland entered the Russian Empire after six centuries of Swedish domination. The publication of the national folk epic, the ...

The founder of literary Finnish was the religious reformer
Mikael Agricola, the first Lutheran bishop of Finland, who published a Finnish primer (
c. 1543) and a translation of the New Testament from Greek into Finnish (1548). (The first Finnish translation of the whole Bible was published in 1642.) In the prefaces to his translations, Agricola showed familiarity with Finnish mythology as...

...tribes gradually developed a sense of unity, which was encouraged by the bishops of Turku. Study in universities brought Finnish scholars into direct touch with the cultural centres of Europe, and
Mikael Agricola (
c. 1510–57), the creator of the Finnish literary language, brought the Lutheran faith from Germany. As part of medieval Sweden, Finland was drawn into the many wars and...

religion

Church of Finland

When Lutheranism was adopted by Sweden, it was also introduced into Finland and was declared the official religion of the country in 1593. The outstanding Finnish reformer was
Mikael Agricola, who had studied at Wittenberg, where Martin Luther was a professor. Consecrated the first Lutheran bishop of Turku (1554), Agricola published several religious works, including a Finnish translation of...

Ilmarinen

...of Finnmark in northern Norway use the name Ilmaris, referring to a deity who brings storms and bad weather. The earliest reference to Ilmarinen is the list of Finnish deities compiled in 1551 by
Mikael Agricola (
c. 1510–57), the Lutheran bishop who developed written Finnish. Agricola identified Ilmarinen specifically as a weather god who aids travelers on their journeys....

Reformation

...true, namely, that Sweden was an evangelical state. The outstanding Swedish reformers were the brothers Olaus and Laurentius Petri. Finland, under Swedish rule, followed suit. The reformer there was
Mikael Agricola, called “the father of written Finnish.” The Baltic states of Livonia and Estonia were officially Lutheran in 1554. Austria under the Habsburgs provided no state support...